Church Of St Meubred

Church of St Meubred

This is a parish church of the 15th century with later alterations and additions. The building was restored and given a vestry extension in the late 19th century. An Incorporated Church Building Society board dated 1896 records this work. The church features a sundial dated 1739 and a boss in the porch dated 1830.

The building is constructed of slatestone rubble with granite dressings. The porch and tower are built in granite ashlar. The roofs are of slate with ridge tiles, crested ridge tiles on the nave and chancel, raised coped verges in granite, and cross finials to the east.

The plan comprises a nave and chancel in one, with a north aisle and south aisle with south porch. The chancel was restored in the 19th century and given a north vestry. A west tower completes the arrangement. The nave itself is concealed by the aisles.

The chancel has a 3-light east window with Perpendicular tracery, 4-centred arch and hood mould. To the south is a 2-light window and to the north a lancet window, with a further 2-light north window with 4-centred arched lights. The north vestry is a single storey structure with gable ends and cross finial. Its north door has a pointed arch and the east window is 2-light with cusped lights.

The south aisle stands on a chamfered plinth and contains six bays with long and short granite quoins. All south windows are 3-light with cusped lights, Perpendicular tracery, 4-centred arch and hood mould. A similar 4-light east window has Y tracery, and a similar 3-light west window is present. The south porch is gabled on a chamfered plinth. Its outer doorway is a 4-centred arch with colonnettes. Above the porch is set a slate sundial with gnomon, inscribed with the names of wardens I. Batte and W. Coppin and dated 1739. The porch interior has a granite paved floor and granite benches to the sides. The C15 wagon roof displays carved principals, wall-plates and bosses. One central boss was replaced and inscribed "Thos. Smith 1830". The inner doorway is a 4-centred arch with wave mouldings, the C19 door fitted with cover strips and studs. The inner side of the door has re-used fleur de lys strap hinges and a wooden case lock. A slate tablet attached to the south aisle commemorates Nicholas Saunders, 1776.

The north aisle is on a chamfered plinth with four bays and east and west windows matching those on the south aisle. The north windows are 3-light with cusped lights, 4-centred arch and hood mould. Three C19 doors with studs are present. A slate tablet attached to the north commemorates William Coppin, 1774.

The west tower rises in three stages on a moulded plinth with narrow set-back weathered buttresses, each with clasping pinnacles rising from them at every stage. The parapet is embattled with octagonal pinnacles bearing crocketed spirelets. The west doorway is a 4-centred arch with roll-mouldings and recessed spandrels carved with leaves. A C19 door with cover strips and studs stands within. The square hood mould has label stops. The 4-light west window has Y-tracery, 4-centred arch with hood mould and label stops. The cill displays a panel with carved granite quatrefoils and stars with a central shield. Each side of the door jambs has a large similar carved panel. A clock occupies the second stage to the north, with lancets to the north serving the tower stair. The third stage contains 3-light bell-openings with Perpendicular tracery and 4-centred arch.

The interior has slate paved floor and plastered walls. The nave and chancel have a C19 scissors truss roof. The north and south aisles retain C15 wagon roofs with carved ribs, bosses and wall-plates. The nave has a five-bay north arcade with Pevsner A-type piers and 4-centred arches with hollow-chamfered mouldings. The south arcade contains six bays of similar design. A tall tower arch with Pevsner A-type piers and 4-centred arch is crossed by an early C19 wooden screen with engaged Ionic columns. The tower has a hollow-chamfered 4-centred arched north door to the stair, fitted with strap hinges.

The chancel contains triple sedilia with carved Latin lettering, a trefoil-arched piscina, and a 4-centred arched aumbry. A tomb recess has a chamfered 4-centred arch with colonnettes to the sides and a trefoil moulded niche above, with a carved granite ledger stone. The south aisle also has a piscina.

The font is of stone, located in the south aisle, with a square bowl, blank arcade to the sides, and carving of trefoils and stars. C17 stocks remain in the porch. In the tower, the weights of a clock given by parishioners in 1920 are visible. C19 painted Gothic boards with Bible verses are mounted in the tower. The chancel has painted Gothic candlesticks and wooden piers forming a reredos in the same style. The nave and aisles have benches with C15 carved bench ends. A C19 wooden pulpit stands in the nave. The north aisle contains a carved C17 wooden sideboard with panels of the Coronation of the Virgin and saints, given in 1967 from Carblake, Cardinham. Above the north door is a letter of thanks from Charles I at Sudely Castle, 1643, executed in oil on board with nowy head. A warden's wand is mounted on the wall below. The north aisle also has a C18 stone baluster font with lid and a stone carved with two crosses. A fine plaster coat of arms of Charles II, dated 1661, very well modelled with no paint, hangs in the north aisle.

Monuments in the chancel include a brass to Thomas Awmarle, Rector, circa 1400. The south aisle contains the Glynn family monument, a convex oval tablet with swags, Corinthian columns and entablature, inclined shield of arms and freestanding putti, painted, with putti set as corbels below the plinth and scrolled supporters, erected by Dennys Glynn in 1699. Remains of a slate tablet to William Glynn from the C17 are present, along with a marble monument on slate ground to Thomas Grylls, 1845, and a marble monument on slate ground to John Bate, 1856. The north aisle contains three slate ledgers, one dated 1608, a slate tablet to Elizabeth Coppin, 1788, and a metal tablet with nowy head to Henry Bennett, 1777.